"WATERS UNDER THE EARTH" (EXODUS 20:4)

In the Ten Commandments, we are told not to make images of anything above the earth, on the earth, or in the waters below the earth. As a scientist who tries whenever he can to take language in the Bible in its most natural understanding, this statement is a little disturbing to me. And so I proceeded to see what biblical scholars have to say on the subject, which turned out to be a little more complicated than I had thought originally. The first hurdle to deal with was the diversity of opinions I ran into, and the second was the fact that seemingly parallel language to “waters under the earth” appears elsewhere in the OT but may not refer to the same body of water. Here is my attempt to capsulize what I found out:

It all starts out with the Creation story in Genesis 1:6-8 where God separates the waters above from the waters below. At least there is reasonable agreement from the scholars I consulted that this means a separation between water vapor in the atmosphere and water on the surface of the earth. Next, God gathers together the water on the earth into discrete areas so that dry land can appear (Gen 1:9-10). Water next figures into the story in verses 20-21 when “fish” are created to populate the rivers and oceans. Genesis 1:26 is a very important verse for this study in that the three realms of living beings (land, sea and air) are placed under mankind's rule and care.

From a theological point of view, this account thus points out that not only are all animals created by God, they are even placed lower than mankind within creation. This concept is really the key to understanding how appropriate God's commandment is in Exodus 20:4. None of these animals is obviously to be worshiped. Since Exodus 20 is not the only place where this prohibition is given, it is helpful to compare the various parallel accounts, looking especially at any differences in language.

Genesis 1:20-25 living creatures in the waters, birds above the earth, and living creatures on the earth

Exodus 20:4 anything in heaven, anything on earth, and anything in the water under the earth

Deuteronomy 4:15-18 any person, any animal on the earth, any bird that flies, anything that creeps on the ground, any fish in the water under the earth, and any heavenly body

Deuteronomy 5:5 anything in heaven above, anything on the earth, anything in the water under the earth

Notice how closely the prohibitions in Exodus and Deuteronomy mirror the various realms of creation. Of special note is Deuteronomy 4:15-18, which basically rehearses the creation story in the exact opposite order, even including mankind and the heavenly bodies. (By the way, this quotation of a pre-existing document in reverse order occurs elsewhere in Deuteronomy.) Note that it is the only passage that specifically mentions “fish” as living in these waters. So from these four accounts alone, we can be reasonably certain that the “water under the earth” cannot mean anything except the seas and rivers.

C. John Collins concurs in this opinion when he remarks that although some feel this phrase refers to a subterranean ocean, “It is more likely, in view of the parallel with Deuteronomy 4:18, that the idea is simply that the level of the water (the rivers, lakes , and seas where the fish dwell) is 'lower than' the level of the land.” Similarly, Craigie says that “the reference here [Deut. 4:17-19] to waters beneath the earth may mean that images representing the mythological characters of the underworld in Egyptian or Canaanite thought were being forbidden. Alternatively the prohibition may again simply prevent any part of the order of creation (Gen. 1:20-23) from being used as an image of the Creator.”

Fountains of the Deep

But what about the concept of a subterranean ocean? It possibly appears in additional biblical texts. Thus, Anderson, writing on Psalm 24:21, asserts: “According to the cosmology of the Psalmist, the earth rests upon the waters of the great cosmic ocean (Gen. 7:11; 49:25; Exod. 20:4; Deut. 33:13; Job 26:10; Ps. 136:6).” He also states that rivers are part of this cosmic ocean, not to be confused with earthly rivers. As you can see, he even includes Exodus 20:4 among his proof-texts in contradiction to what is explained in the discussion above.

These additional texts usually refer to such waters as blessings, fountains, or springs of “the deep.” The two basic understandings of “the deep” are (a) the mythological cosmic ocean upon which the earth floated or was anchored through “pillars” and (b) the underground aquifers responsible for feeding steams and wells. Let us take the mythological explanation first.

G. V. Smith cites II Samuel 22, Psalm 18:15, Proverbs 8:29 and Micah 6:1-2 to prove the idea that the foundations of the earth are rooted in the depths of the sea. He even feels that Amos 7:4, with its mention of “the great deep,” may thus refer to Sheol, the realm of the dead. Psalm 136:6 speaks of God “who spread out the earth on the waters.” The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery echoes Anderson in stating, “The common background belief [of Genesis 49:25 and Deuteronomy 33:13] was that a great reservoir of primal water lay beneath the earth.” Wenham says that texts such as Amos 7:4, Psalm 78:15 and Malachi 3:10 refer to the “great subterranean ocean.”

One other text sometimes used in support of the mythological explanation is Isaiah 51:10. However, both Oswalt and Whybray point out that the reference there is to the parting of the Red Sea. Despite that point, there is no arguing with the fact that the waters of the deep are definitely distinguished from oceans, lakes and rivers in such passages as Genesis 7:11; 8:2; Proverbs 8:28-29, and Revelation 14:7. So if one rejects the mythological explanation while realizing that these waters of the deep are different from water seen from the surface of the earth, what are the remaining options?

Even if a primitive mythological view of nature is accepted, E. C.Lucas warns that “the old religious cosmologies are not to be written off as outmoded scientific explanations, nor are they expected to answer modern scientific questions. Either approach fails to take them seriously on their own terms and will miss the insights they have to give us.” Thus, one can try to understand these passages apart from any scientific implications, pro or con, with the realization that the word “mythology” is not at all synonymous with “a lie,” but may in fact convey profound spiritual truths. By the way, Lucas also points out that the concept of a huge body of water underground was widely accepted by most cultures up to the late 19^th century.

But that is not the only possible way to explain the various passages that employ terms such as “fountains of the deep.” Most descriptions of nature in the Bible are given in phenomenological terms, i.e. according to appearances rather than attempting to explain the underlying reasons behind them. Thus, it is entirely possible that the biblical authors simply observed that some water appeared to seep up from under the ground in springs or could be captured by digging deep underground wells (Deuteronomy 8:7). This was a valuable source of water in a land that suffered from a general lack of rainfall (see Genesis 49:25). They did not have to create an elaborate cosmology in which a giant ocean lay beneath their feet in order to talk about the fountains or blessings of the deep.

A final point is made by V. Hamilton and G. Wenham who point out that expressions such as “springs of the deep,” “foundations (pillars) of the earth” and “windows of heaven” only appear in OT poetry and thus were not intended to convey literal truth at all.